Former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar believes Hardik Pandya’s knock in the 2017 Champions Trophy final had put the all-rounder on the world map. Pandya was batting at the top of his game in the final against Pakistan when the team was chasing a huge target of 339 runs.
The right-hander had scored a brilliant knock of 76 runs off just 43 balls but he was run out after a mix-up with Ravindra Jadeja. Sridhar revealed that Pandya he could have got India over the line in the run-chase as he was batting in the zone.
Pandya was timing the ball to perfection and took the Pakistan bowlers to the cleaners. However, his efforts went in vain as India went on to lose by a huge margin of 180 runs after they got off to a terrible start.
“He felt he could have won us that day,” R Sridhar told cricket.com.
“The way he was batting, he was in his zone, as they call it. And he thought him and Jadeja could have won us the game. Unfortunately, not to be. But again, that put Hardik on the world map, didn’t it,” Sridhar further said.
Sridhar added Shastri was backing Pandya in the Test format and thought the all-rounder was going to win them matches in the foreign conditions. However, Pandya last played a Test match in England back in 2018 and since then he has been focussing on the limited-overs format.
“We saw him as an out-and-out match-winner in the Indian team. Ravi bhai saw his potential even before he made his debut for India. He was like, ‘he is the boy who will win us Test matches abroad’. He knew that Hardik was a missing link for India abroad, an all-rounder who can crack a 140+. So, we all knew what Hardik could bring to the team. Straightaway, Hardik started learning lessons from Mahi, Rohit, Virat. We all knew what he bring to the table,” Sridhar said.
Hardik Pandya has been in great form in the recent past and he is going to hold the key in the T20 World Cup, which will be played in Australia.
Pandya is currently being rested for the series against South Africa. The second T20I will be played in Guwahati on Sunday.
